KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - France has decided to withdraw its support for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Vega small satellite launcher, the chief executive of the Arianespace launch company said.

The decision ended weeks of speculation about France's participation in the programme and is likely to anger Italy, which has a 55 percent stake in the $300 million project.

ESA members gave provisional backing last year for the development of the Vega rocket, with France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain joining forces with Italy to develop it.

But almost from the outset, France complained about the cost and queried the commercial prospects for a rocket which could carry a satellite weighing no more than a tonne.

Some analysts also said France, traditional leader of all European launcher programmes, did not like the fact that another country had taken majority control of the new project.

``It is a purely French decision and Arianespace does not get involved in politics,'' he said. Paris-based Arianespace is the commercial arm of ESA.

The Vega rocket was scheduled to be launched from Arianespace's centre in Kourou, on the northeast coast of South America, with the first blast-off pencilled in for 2002.

A final decision on the development of the Vega is expected to be taken in October by the ESA Council.Italian space industry officials said in June they would continue the project even without France.